John Quinn
John Quinn, simply known as Quinn, is the deuteragonist of The Chosen, the sixth book in L.J. Smith's Night World series. He is a made vampire, changed in the 1600s at age 18 in Boston, by the lamia vampire Hunter Redfern. He is the soulmate of Rashel Jordan, and later joins Circle Daybreak. Physical Appearance Quinn is always described as "compact" (average heighted) and pale-skinned, with black hair and eyes. Despite his height, he has a "lithe and flat-muscled" body. He is also depicted as having a generally soft voice, comparable to ice or fallen snow. Like all vampires, he has a high tolerance of the cold, although direct light to the eyes is unbearable. His eyes gain a predatory sheen and his canine teeth grow longer when hunting or about to feed. Furthermore, Quinn has a notable scar on his side from a fire-hardened stake from a past altercation with his father. Personality Quinn, who has only ever gone by his surname after his transformation, has been described as ruthless and cold, even by other vampires. His reputation as a skilled fighter and merciless killer is such that other Nightpeople fear him immensely (with the noted exception of Ash, who appears to hold a strange kind of friendship with Quinn, although he is also aware of what Quinn is capable of and will not underestimate the elder vampire). When on his own or around other Nightpeople, he is notably sardonic, bleak, humorless and brooding, and admits to having a love-hate relationship with the Redfern family he is part of. However, around others, Quinn gives the impression of insane charm, often laughing madly or smiling in a maniacal way (this quality remains even after joining Circle Daybreak). Surprisingly, many humans are drawn by this trait, especially when coupled with Quinn's good looks. Despite his infamy, Quinn is highly honorable and is capable of a great amount of care and loyalty, as seen with Rashel and Hunter. His mind control is also exceptionally strong, as he is able to knock out or stun humans with a simple hand gesture; its strength was once compared to "a karate blow". History ''Daughters Of Darkness'' Quinn makes his debut appearance in Daughters of Darkness. Meeting Ash above the town of Briar Creek, Quinn expresses doubts in Ash's ability to convince his sisters to return home, and additionally mentions how the Redferns seem to be having trouble with humans of late (citing Ash's great aunt Opal, great-uncle Hodge and cousin James as examples). Ash brushes off Quinn's concerns, and the made vampire reluctantly gives Ash a week to finish the job, otherwise the vampire council would be informed of the situation. Throughout the book, despite Ash's lightheartedness around Hunter's heir, in truth he appears to be intimidated of Quinn's political influence and strength, as he seeks to quickly convince Rowan, Kestrel and Jade to return home with him so as to avoid Quinn's interference. At the conclusion of the book, when Quinn returns to check up on Ash, the wily vampire convinces an astonished Quinn that it would be better for the girls to remain in Briar Creek, especially after the incident with Jeremy Lovett and the murder of their great-aunt. Wisely, Ash conceals the existence of his soulmate, Mary-Lynette, from Quinn, who departs the town satisfied with Ash's work. ''The Chosen'' Quinn next appears in The Chosen, serving as one of the principle characters. Quinn is first seen coming in by ship to Boston, a place he mentions he hadn't been to in centuries, and where he had become a vampire during colonial times. He describes how, when he was a teenager, he enjoyed sailing and that one of his goals was to own his own fishing schooner, the other goal being to marry Dove Redfern, the beautiful and gentle daughter of Hunter Redfern, and the reason Quinn became a vampire. However, he does not initially give many details about the girl, despite her having soft brown hair and being delicate, although it is implied Dove is dead. Reluctant to relive the memory, he decides to venture among the waterfront warehouses to distract himself. When he is held captive by a group of vampire hunters, he meets a then-concealed Rashel Jordan, a vampire hunter famous among others and referred to by Nightpeople as "The Cat". Patrolling warehouses along with a group of other vampire hunters, Rashel is able to knock Quinn unconsious with a wooden club when he surprises the others. Dragging him inside an abandoned warehouse and tying him up, Rashel convinces the rest of the group to continue patrolling, but her underlying motive is to give Quinn a clean death, as she is disgusted at the idea of torturing someone who is unable to fight back, even if that someone is a vampire. She attempts to stake him with her wooden sword, but hesitates upon discovering Quinn awake and watching her. When Rashel doesn't kill him, Quinn notices the vampire "handcuffs" around his wrists and assumes he is going to be tortured, although he reacts to this by, of all things, laughing. Rashel attempts a kind of apology, regarding this as the only conclusion when vampires and humans meet. Surprisingly Quinn agrees with her, and compliments her for having "honor". Rashel questions him about his life, and Quinn reveals to her how he had been changed into a vampire by Hunter Redfern, without his knowledge, due to Quinn's wish to marry Hunter's daughter, Dove, who had died before they could be married (although Quinn will not disclose how she died). He even reveals his first name to Rashel: John. Rashel, for once, is moved to sympathy, and, noting that he is almost free of the vampire cuffs (having twisted and bent the metal hinges) she decides to let him go, despite Quinn's threatening to kill her if she frees him. Once released, he and Rashel fight, but it is abruptly halted when the two touch for the first time, causing them to see into one another's mind. Quinn is able to grab Rashel and begin unveiling her, although he does not do so out of malice, but curiosity, compelled by the force connecting them. However, he is stopped by the returning vampire hunters, who separate them; Rashel allows Quinn time to escape the warehouse before he is recaptured, but it costs her the trust of the other hunters. Quinn is greatly unnerved by his encounter with Rashel, and experiences more memories of his past. It is revealed that Quinn awoke in Hunter's cabin, under the watch of Dove and her elder sisters, Garnet and Lily. Quinn reacted with horror at what he had become and flees from Hunter. Dove follows Quinn, who manages to convince Dove to return with him to his father, a Boston minister. Dove ultimately agrees but, upon being faced with his transformed son, the minister reacts by grabbing Dove and, before Quinn's eyes, driving a stake through her heart, killing her. Hunter, Garnet and Lily rescue Quinn and bring the two back, where Hunter comments that Dove was "too gentle" to live in a world of humans. He then asks Quinn if he thinks he can "do any better". This sentence galvanizes Quinn's decision to embrace his vampirism and indeed survive among, and hunt down, humans. However, upon meeting Rashel, Quinn begins to feel differently towards humans, and wants to find her. Ultimately Quinn decides it's better that he can't find Rashel, as she is a vampire hunter, as his own father once was, in addition to being a human. His thoughts turning to the concept of life and death, Quinn heads for the Crypt club, in order to continue to gain young girls for a human slave trade that had been established by himself and his foster sister, Lily. At the club, Quinn acts erratic and manic, yet is able to gather a following of girls, many of whom are from negligent families, to whom he preaches his views regarding death and darkness. These teens are fascinated with and fawn over Quinn's musings, as they come from terrible backgrounds and death is, in a sense, a way to escape for them, having seen the worst of life. While there, however, he encounters Rashel again, under the pseudonym "Shelly", and his initial psychotic cheer begins to drain; Rashel notes that he begins to look "tired and sick". However, with aid from Daphne Childs, an escaped victim of the slave trade, Rashel is able to convince Quinn to chose her and Daphne to meet with him the next night. However, upon meeting with him, Quinn appears confused, as if he's almost able to figure out who Rashel really is. Despite this, Quinn does not appear to make the connection, and uses mind control to knock out first Daphne, and then Rashel, bringing them both to the warehouses. Lily notes Quinn's moodiness and odd behavior, during which Quinn reminisces with Lily about how he punched a man who attempted to recruit Quinn to sell black slaves during the 1600s (yet ironically Quinn is now doing almost exactly that). His harsher behavior continues when Ivan, one of the slave overseers, attempts to bite Rashel in retaliation for her insulting him the night before. Quinn furiously demands that Ivan let her go; despite her suspicions Lily agrees with Quinn, citing that the girls need to be in perfect condition. Quinn departs soon after. Two days later, on the boat heading for a Nightworld enclave where the girls are being taken, Quinn, upset and even more disturbed by Rashel, whom he remarks as being "so lovely that it was almost too bad she was certifiably insane", concludes his memories of the past; he recalls how Hunter, to protect them all, decided to hide his family on an enclave island near the East Coast. He cites Hunter as being the one who came up with the idea of using islands for enclaves, but Quinn tells him that it would not be safe due to local fishermen. In reply, Hunter informs him that he can get a witch to enchant the enclave to keep humans away and, upon Quinn questioning why a witch would do so, Hunter reveals that the witch who would do it would be Garnet and Lily's mother, Maeve Harman. Maeve indeed returns and casts the spells, but Quinn notices that she does not appear to like Hunter, and kept their youngest daughter, Roseclear, away from him. Quinn becomes a formal member of the Redferns, although he does not marry into the family; Lily remains unmarried and Garnet, who seemed to have feelings for Quinn, gave him up and married another lamia vampire instead. The girls are being brought to the same enclave the Redferns had inhabited centuries before. Once she learns that the girls are not being taken for a slave trade, but a bloodfeast, Rashel concocts a plan to help the girls escape the island. Upon escaping the cellar of the enclave's summer house, Rashel becomes caught up in a fight with the werewolf Rudi, but is saved by Quinn, who, upon then fighting and being defeated by Rashel himself, finally realizes she is the vampire hunter who released him from the warehouse. Once again, Rashel cannot bring herself to kill him, despite Quinn's insistence that she do so, as after seeing her face, he cannot "stand the sight of himself in her eyes". In response to her reluctance to kill him, Quinn calls her an idiot, and Rashel knocks him out with the hilt of her knife, afterwards tying him up and allowing the other 23 girls to escape. Rashel inflitrates the house, intending to identify and kill the eight made vampires who are participating in the bloodfeast, but she is prevented by the liberated and now conscious Quinn, who drags her into a bedroom. He reveals that he loves Rashel but, as humans and Nightpeople cannot be together, he decides to change her into a vampire, but this is something Rashel vehemently does not want. Despite her assertions that she will kill herself if he completes the action, Quinn bites her, but is prevented from carrying out his plan due to the Soulmate Principle, which allowed their minds to merge. The two finally learn that they are soulmates, and, being able to see into one another's minds, they come to a mutual understanding. Rashel views dark places in Quinn's mind, along with "rainbow places that were aching to grow", and "parts that seems to quiver with light, desperate to be awakened". Determined to help, Rashel mentally injects positivity and comfort into Quinn's soul, although he amusingly claims that she is killing him as a result. When the two finally come out of the reverie, they recall the danger of the situation outside and Quinn decides to report the bloodfeast, which is illegal by Nightworld law, to Hunter Redfern. However, upon confronting the made vampires, Quinn is stunned when it is revealed that Hunter himself, with Lily as his contact, had organized the bloodfeast. Furthermore, Hunter is shown to be the vampire who killed Rashel's mother and aunt, and nearly killed her when she was five. To crown his dark workings, Hunter had also changed Rashel's four year old friend, Timmy, into a made vampire, trapped physically at age four but chronologically age sixteen, and feeding the boy his own philosophy about humans. Rashel also suspects that Hunter specifically twisted Timmy's mind against her. When Rashel confirms that Hunter killed her mother, Quinn visibly stands against Hunter, and tells him that he is leaving the enclave with Rashel, his soulmate. Hunter at first disbelieves Quinn, but upon seeing the seriousness of Quinn's words, reacts with superficial regret; it's hinted that Hunter is going to allow the made vampires to kill Quinn and Rashel. However, they are interrupted by the scent of gasoline and then smoke; a disturbed vampire hunter, Nyala, who had been captured for the bloodfeast, had remained behind and was setting the house on fire. Rashel and Quinn manage to escape with a resistant Timmy but, upon realizing Nyala is still inside, Quinn returns for her while Rashel reconciles with the child-vampire. Quinn reemerges with a nearly unconscious Nyala, and the four of them escape the enclave on Hunter's boat, Quinn looking extremely disheveled. They leave the island, Quinn and Rashel concerned that the vampires might have survived, but the pair also console one another and decide to ultimately join Circle Daybreak, at least to give the circle a fighting division as well as to get help for Timmy and Nyala. ''Soulmate'' Quinn and Rashel make a guest appearance in the novel Soulmate. When Hannah Snow arrives at Thierry's home, the witch Thea Harman introduces her to the soulmate couples of the other books, all of whom have joined Circle Daybreak. When introducing her own soulmate, Eric, as a human, Quinn readily quips "Just barely". Hannah notes that Quinn has a "beautiful" but "slightly unnerving" smile. Trivia *He hated almost everybody, humans in particular, until his meeting with his future soulmate, vampire hunter, Rashel Jordan. *The name "John" in Hebrew origin means "the grace or mercy of the lord". *The surname "Quinn" in Celtic origin means "wise" and in Gaelic means "intelligent". Appearances *''Daughters of Darkness'' *''The Chosen'' *''Soulmate'' Category:Males Category:Vampires